Reaching the academic world globally. The Critical Geography Forum Listserv. Dec. 2024.
Letting the English speaking universities, colleges, and other academic institutions know that the Gay mens movement exists.
Subscriptions are free.
What is Critters and how does it get the word out to Gay scholars globally?
Critters is the nickname for the Critical Geography Forum Listserv. A member can post a message and it goes out to scholars all over the world, mostly English speaking but not all.
How does this reach scholars who aren’t geographers. Universities and colleges are social communities as well as academic communities and professors know professors in other university departments. Privately they can share info that this person exists. Publically they can denounce me and that spreads the word also. Either way the word will get around.
Almost all the professors work in a situation where they can’t speak our or organize since they will find themselves targeted if they do. They will have university presidents talking about how they are “deeply troubled” and students suddenly declaring that they feel unsafe by the mere existence of the professor.
So not wanting to terminate their careers they keep quiet.
I am an independent scholar and I have been published by peer reviewed acadmic journals and have been the editor of university press books so I qualify to be on this listserv.
I am also pounding on the LGBTQXYZ+ and queer studies nonsense.
I do NOT have a university president that can be “deeply troubled” nor studens that might whine they “feel unsafe.” So I can publish some fairly cutting comments and I have.
I want to have online what I have said, so that scholars can find and read what I publish in Critters.
I will be doing these posts irregulary when I feel I have accumulated enough to get pubished. There will be directory post of these Critters posts.
My posts to Critters Dec. 2024
I can’t show the posts that I responded to as part of their privacy policy.
Dec. 2024
The mainstream media was reporting the South Korean coup d’etat as a conservative coup, when it was a Christian effort.
I also detailed how this was involving Gays. How the party of the person attempt the coup was a Christian nationalist party which was focused on Gays. I also pointed out that the tolerant Christianity in the West is contingent on historical factors that no longer apply, and that South Korean Christianity is likely the Christianity of the future.
https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/wa-jisc.exe?A2=CRIT-GEOG-FORUM;f4e2ccd.2412
Subject: Christian nationalist attempted coup d'etat/Liberal history
Date: Wed, 4 Dec 2024 14:38:18 +0000
The People Power Party is a Christian Nationalist Party. Korean Christianity represents the future of Christianity. Western tolerance is historically contingent to have white unity to support slavery, imperialism, and to successfully conduct global geopolitical struggles in the 20th century.
They have blocked Pride events, sometimes in defiance of the law. It is frequently given to really violent attacks.
Pride events in Korea have been violently attacked and to prevent this embassies send represenatives to attend to encourge S. Korean police to do their jobs. There are Christian arson attacks against Buddhist temples to the fequencey that it is reported on by Buddhist groups as far away as Sri Lanka. I am limited to English language sources. I am sure Buddhist militants are aware of these attempted arson attacks.
The three major covid outbreaks in S. Korea during the pandemic was due to the willful disregard of pubic health measures by three seperate Christian organizations.
It is not surprising that Yoon Suk Yeol attepted his calamitous declaration of martial law given that the Peoples Power Party is the party that has incorporated into itself the Christian nationalist.
The mainstream media, the publicity departments of the Democrats and the neoliberal establishment, have framed their reporting to have Yoon and the People Power Party as conservatives and not Christian nationalists. In 2028 they will likely have another organization like Evangelicals for Harris.
Sentimental liberal history in the Western World sees religious tolerance and the abatement of the atrocities and horrors of the Christian past due to the felicitous idea of "progress" in the Western world.
African American Gerald Horne points out that religious tolerance was necessary for white unity to control slave populations which were often greater than resident whites. Horne ridicules the idea that it was 18th Century Enlightenment appearing in a slave republic. I would point out that religious tolerance for white unity would be quite necessary for survival when facing possible attacks of Native Americans, or to dispossess them of a continent.
Europeans needed to conquer the world and could hardly afford religious division when occupying nations with large populations.
The need to first fight World Wars 1 and II would necessitate the avoidance of religious division. The U.S. government had radio programs just before WWII to reduce ethnic and racial division. The Cold War would again necessitate the avoidance of religious division.
However, Korean Christianity was not part of Western history and has different historical contingencies. It doesn't come out of the Western historical contigencies supporting tolerance.
I think Korean Christianity is an indicator of what Christianity will be like in at least America as the American historical factors for tolerance fade into the past.
Ed Sebesta
Responding to a liberal attempt to rescue Christianity’s repurtation in the discussion of the Korean coup d’etat.
This was in response to a post by a scholar which said. It is the usual liberal attempt to represent bad Christian behavior as not typical. I also mentioned that Democratic candidate for President in 2024 also employed extreme homophobes.
What's fascinating (in a truly horrible way) about the rise of muscular, patriarchal christianity represented by these evangelical sects is the simultaneous revelation about their overwhelming responsibility for grooming, rape and sexual abuse of youn women, men and children.
In both the US and Korea, it seems, the closer you claim your relationship to God to be, the more likely you are to be a rapist or child-molester.
https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/wa-jisc.exe?A2=CRIT-GEOG-FORUM;8c3e6fbd.2412
Subject: Re: Christian nationalist attempted coup d'etat/Liberal history
Date: Thu, 5 Dec 2024 07:14:36 -0600
I point out to my readers that liberal Christianity and liberalism have an agenda of saving Christianity at the expense of Gay people and function and enablers of homophobic Christianity. Sending conversations off in “safe” directions serves the agenda of the neoliberals. This post by Jon Cloke is an example.
FIRST, “the rise of muscular, patriarchal Christianity” is not historical. Christianity was violent from the moment it was able to be violent. Its plan and operating system to exterminate of non-believers is in the Gospels.
The object assessment of something can be by observing what the thing does, rather than getting pulled into a quagmire of theological contortions and entanglements which can’t be objectively resolved.
Also, Christianity is global. Maybe in Huff-and-Puff-on-the-Thames or where ever Cloke is resident, Christianity is of a certain character with rising Evangelical engagement, but globally, Christianity is mostly like the Christianity in Korea or Uganda.
The persecution of Gays by Christianity goes back to antiquity, and didn’t start with recent modern movements.
SECOND, this is an attempt to white wash Christianity. The argument is that there is some crisis in masculinity emerging now, misdirecting Christianity into bad behaviors, rather than examine what the inherent character of Christianity is.
THIRD, and I point this out to my readers, it a typical misdirection shutting down LGBT discussion of effective counter measures. Instead of defining what counter measures we might adopt, and there are possible counter measures, but we are directed to be concerned about some global crisis in masculinity which not much can be done.
FOURTH, we can form teams to widely disseminated these scandals on social media, but we this has limited utility. The Evangelical sees the issue as an individual problem. Also, make sure that these cases are reported and prosecuted and support civil damages awards. There are Christians online attempting to reform Christianity, and there research can be used and repackaged and sent out.
Instead of talking about a “crisis in masculinity,” more informative is that the Virgin Mary was about 12 to 14 years old when she gave “consent” to being impregnated by a god that was well known to slaughter thousands when irritated.
The numerous sexual scandals in the Dallas, Texas have been so frequent that they have been the subject of a news article in the New York Times. Yet it is a mystery as to why with the neoliberals. I suggest that when you are in a belief system drowning in emotion, and also is very sexually repressive, you make bad decisions. It is inherent in Evangelical religion.
The Democrats had Evangelicals for Harris including a minister here in the Dallas area who says the Anti-Christ is Gay. Though I find that a rather fun idea, it is severely homophobic. The neoliberal establishment needs Christian votes and so the Stonewall Democrats and the LGBTQXYZ establishments tailor their approach to homophobic Christianity in a certain way.
The Gay community needs to do what is necessary for self-defense.
Ed
In response to postings about the South Korean coup d’etat which omitted that it was a Christian coup d’etat I posted this message.
https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/wa-jisc.exe?A2=CRIT-GEOG-FORUM;41c5500e.2412
Subject: Univ. of Chicago Divinity School, "Christian Apocalypse in Pandemic-Stricken South Korea."
Date: Sat, 7 Dec 2024 14:10:38 +0000
I see that the mainstream media, neoliberal media, is reporting the current struggle in Korea as a secular one.
This following article will give a more accurate insight into how things are perceoved in South Korea. It is, "Sightings," Dec. 9, 2021, "Christian Apocalypse in Pandemic-Striken South Korea," by Myung-Sahm Suh, pub. Univ. of Chicago.
Basically it is how the reputation of Christianity in South Korea with Koreans wass taking a beating due to some churches defying covid safety protocols.
Surely Yoon's attempted coup d'etat, like previous martial law declartions by previous Christian leaders, is perceived as deriving from Christian extremism in their nation.
https://divinity.uchicago.edu/sightings/articles/christian-apocalypse-pandemic-stricken-south-korea
Shared post showing that the South Korean coup d’etat was Christian by sharing the article of a groups of scholars.
https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/wa-jisc.exe?A2=CRIT-GEOG-FORUM;bd54bb3a.2412
Subject: Sino NK article, "Understanding South Korean Conservatism and Yoon's Martial Law Declaration."
Date: Mon, 9 Dec 2024 22:35:11 +0000
This is a group of scholars who research North East Asia.
Understanding South Korean Conservativism and Yoon’s Martial Law Declaration
By Steven Denney | December 05, 2024 |
The author argues that the People Power Party operates within Democratic framework he also states.
"Lastly, while the PPP operates primarily within a democratic framework, the martial law declaration represents a notable departure from mainstream-right categorization, leaning toward tactics associated with radical right or authoritarian populist regimes. These regimes often justify democratic backsliding under the guise of protecting national security. The swift reversal of the declaration, along with widespread backlash, underscores the tension between such actions and South Korea’s established democratic institutions."
The party incorporates homophobic Christian movements.
"While the party maintains ties to South Korea’s conservative Christian base, its broader platform encompasses a range of policy positions beyond religious conservatism."
"Additionally, the PPP and broader conservative movements in South Korea maintain a culturally conservative stance on gender roles and sexual norms, echoing socially ultra-conservative positions seen in Europe’s far right. Ultra-conservative Christian groups, which support the PPP, often espouse anti-communist, anti-feminist, and anti-LGBTQ+ stances. While these movements share ideological commonalities with the global far right, they do not advocate for the overthrow of democratic institutions." [Boldface added.]
In American media the issue of religion hasn't been mentioned.
Subjecting the LGBTQ+ initialism and the term '“queer” to ridicule.
This was a response to someone who I thought was basically trolling about the intialism. I used it to critically review the whole LGBTQXYZ+ initialism and the use of the term Queer.
https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/wa-jisc.exe?A2=CRIT-GEOG-FORUM;7457a898.2412
Subject: Re: Should there be a C in LGBTQQIP2SAA ?
Date: Wed, 11 Dec 2024 09:01:42 -0600
Though the initialism is now 14 letters long and is an instrument for neoliberal management of sexual minorities, assimilationism, and for those members of these sexual monitories which would like to imagine their difference is minimal, and portfolios expansion for “Queer” studies, Hillary is indulging in trolling here.
The “Q” is for Queer, a very expandable and elastic category which could include anyone who isn’t John Wayne in the movies, or Clint Eastwood in the movies. It would include cross-dressers.
Though the initialism is subject to ridicule in conversations interior to the Gay community, Hillary’s trolling is something different.
This trolling and an earlier trolling will afford an opportunity for me to practice how to respond to them.
Also, being on this list, and aware of Hillary’s trolling, I think I should let the local community near De Montfort university know that he is a homophobe in their community so prevent some type of action by him to troll them.
I don’t want Hillary removed from this listserve. He is a resource to understand what types of trolling Gays might face and thus provide some idea what current right wing academic responses I might get.
Ed Sebesta
Campaign to terminate LGBTQ+ studies in Texas
https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/wa-jisc.exe?A2=CRIT-GEOG-FORUM;d2b5200b.2412
Subject: Campaign to terminate LGBTQ+ studies in Texas.
Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2024 21:29:11 +0000
Texas House Rep. Brian Harrison has started a campaign to shutdown all LGBT related academics and support for LGBT at publicaly funded Texas Universities.
His campaign has really taken off on Dec. 15, 2024 and our local Christian conservative newspaper "Dallas Express" reported the campaign on Dec. 16, 2024.
I haven't identified the religious affiliation of Brian Harrison yet. He is also against mandatory vacciantions.
What is interesting is that he reposts someone who states they are Gay and is against Gay and Lesbian literature. There are Gays like this in Texas and more than a few.
This is a detailed report of his campaign so far along with background information.
Living in Dallas, Texas I can see homophobic Christianity up close. I can't say at this point whether this shutdown of LGBT studies will just a Texas phenomenon or more a general part of the Trump administration. I think it will be just states like Texas.
Annoucing a Facebook group for Gay studies.
https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/wa-jisc.exe?A2=CRIT-GEOG-FORUM;4286904d.2412
Subject: Gay Studies Facebook group.
Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2024 13:28:23 +0000
To have a place for those who conduct Gay studies I have created a Facebook group Gay Studies. As of 2/8/2025 I am blocked from Facebook.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1956946728166773
We invite posts of your scholarship regarding Gay men past and present. Also, posts about Gay artists and the output of Gay writers writing about Gay life is encouraged.
At some point we hope to have a journal like that of Gai Saber.
Pointing out that Queer studies isn’t Gay studies and how other minorities don’t use slurs to define themselves.
This was in response to a post for papers for “Queer(ing) Agriculture and Ruralities.”
I point out that any Gay person in queer studies is likely critical of other Gays and alienated from Gay culture and how queer studies is antipathetic to Gays. Also, I announce myself as a contact person for those who want to engage in Gay studies.
https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/wa-jisc.exe?A2=CRIT-GEOG-FORUM;80e58cce.2412
Subject: Queer vs. Gay. Re: Queer(ing) Agriculture and Ruralities - Call for Contributions
Date: Sat, 21 Dec 2024 03:48:22 +0000
There are two issues with these "queeer" studies.
1. The acceptance of the term "queer" among Gays.
2. The difference between Gay studies and those frolics called Queer studies. There isn't much if any Gay in Queer studies.
No other field of minority studies uses a slur to define itself. Nor do other minorities use slurs in their organizational names. The argument for this offensive term is that it is supposedly co-opted. First, in an academic field where people are concerned about triggers, there doesn't seem to be concern that it is a trigger for many Gay men. The feelings of the community were not considered, and even now looked down upon. Further of what benefit is it of Gays to supposedly co-opt this term? Exactly how is co-opting measured?
I would suggest that it was adopted by small elites for two purposes. The first was to cosplay being radical. Look mom, we are so daring. It would be an ultra position to go to when you have run out of ultra positions.
The second reason is relates to the issue of the difference between Gay studies and Queer studies. Gay studies would be the studies of Gay men and their lives. The second, queer, is an elastic catagory which is amenable to a taxonomic explosion of persons to study. I recommend a refresher course in Venn diagrams. Whereas wearing an ear ring was once just breaking provincial sex roles, it is now non-binary. Non binary however reifies sex roles which were once thought merely parochial customs into standards.
Queer studies can displace or envelop Gay issues which might be embarassing.
There isn't much Gay in Queer studies, if at all. With the use of the term "queer" all sorts of people can join the frolic.
For this "Queer(ing) Agriculture and Ruralities," program if there is a single Gay person involved, he is the type of social worker Gay amenable to all sorts of moralistic attitudes towards Gay life.
He is very much more likely to have written an essay critical of young men with abs dancing on a bar float in a Pride parade, or of Gays going to a Circuit Party, or working out at gym, than having done any of those three things. He likely thinks "lookism" is a credible concept.
He likely nodded in approval of some trans essay denouncing the term "Gold Star" Gays. That is whether the Gay person had ever had sex with a woman or not. There are two key questions when Gay men discuss their lives. How old were you when you came out? Did you succumb to social pressures and have sex with a woman? Yukio Mishima commented on Mutsuo Takahashi having never slept with a woman. Whereas straight society often gives the first time a straight man has sex woman some metaphysical significance, such as "rite of passage," Mishima ralized that it was just an event in life, not some profundity. What Gay man hasn't heard a dozen times some straight person suggest, "How do you know if you haven't tried it?"
Most importantly, he has likely stated that, "He would consider dating a transman, if it was the right one." There is a saying, among Gays, "Woke in the streets, gender critical in the sheets." Some versions avoid the word "woke." Gays are not fooled.
Also, when transmen finally reveal they are trans to a Gay man and are rejected, the type of Gay person in queer studies feels sympathetic to the trans person rather than consider that "Informed Consent" is the basis of ethical behavior.
Instead of using the initialism LGBTQ+. I suggest instead LgBTQ+ or even L_BTQ+ when used by persons in "queer" studies.
I know that there are Gay scholars out there who don't go along with the queer studies ideology, but don't want their university president to find them "deeply troubling" or have students complain that his dissenting opinion makes them "feel unsafe."
For those who would like to see a revival of Gay studies, I wish to be a focus point for organizing.
Announcement of a conference at Chiang Mai University about BL medium.
Subject: Chiang Mai Univ. Conference on BL. "Queer Soft Power in Asian Boys' Love."
Date: Mon, 23 Dec 2024 03:27:13 +0000
https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/wa-jisc.exe?A2=CRIT-GEOG-FORUM;8da9b8a9.2412
It is recognized that the genre, Boyzu Lovu, as it was known in Japanese, now abbreviated BL, is a soft power of Thailand. It is the subject of academic articles. I first recognized that this phenomenon had gone global when I came across the YouTube channel, "Nigerian BL Fans," run by the Nigeria BL Fan Girl. In discussions with her online I learned that she is not in London, but in Nigeria and was surprised that I was surprised she ran the YouTube channel from there.
https://www.youtube.com/@BL_FANGIRL222
I realized that BL is now everywhere. Netflix now has a Japanes BL "Love is a Poison." I will provide additional information after the notice of the meeting.
It is generally understood that BL is a softpower of Thailand. A large fraction of the world is familiar with Thai people and culture and religion. These dramas are translated into many languages. For example, Tharn Type on the platform Viki has been translated into 20 languages, including Finnish, Arabic, Ukranian, other minor languages and even Slovak.
These are the details of the Chiang Mail Conference.
*********
You are all invited to join us for an interesting discussion exploring the global phenomenon of Boys’ Love (BL) as a form of queer soft power in Asia and beyond.
🗓 Date: 8 January 2025
⏰ Time: 13:00–15:30
📍 Venue: Operations Building, 4F Meeting Room, Faculty of Social Sciences, CMU
🎙️ Speakers:
Asst.Prof. Ying-kit Chan (National University of Singapore)
Assoc.Prof. Amporn Jirattikorn (Chiang Mai University)
Prof. Masao Imamura (Yamagata University)
and me, Khang Huynh-Vinh (Chiang Mai University)
💡 This event will explore how Boys’ Love, originating in Japan and flourishing in Thailand, has become a cultural force shaping perceptions of gender, sexuality, and identity across the globe. From local fandoms to global audiences, discover how BL redefines narratives and amplifies the voices of LGBTQ+ communities.
🧑🤝🧑 Open to all enthusiasts, students, and researchers interested in media, culture, and queer studies. Let’s dive into the world of Boys’ Love together!
******
Though the LGBTQ+ in the West seems to be unaware of the BL genera, it has become a global cultural force. Besides Thailand and Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and Vietnam are major producers, and the Philippines has some efforts. Occasionally Laos, Cambodia, and Myanmar produce something. Previously BL genra was produced in China with some series having a total of a billion views or more. But with it being banned in China, China no longer has this softpower. Instead it is developing outside of China in non-Muslim East and Southeast Asian nations.
I wrote a very candid review of BL, including its more controversial aspects, at this link. I should remind people that this genre is written by straight women for straight women. This social force could be used to push against homophobia in the Western nations infested with homophobic religions. The fans are quite enthusiastic and feel that being against homophobia is integral to their support for the genra, though their knowledge of Gay life can be limited.
https://edwardhsebesta.substack.com/p/harnessing-a-powerful-global-phenomenon
About the right wing calls for a criminal investigation of the Museum of Modern Art in Fort Worth.
https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/wa-jisc.exe?A2=CRIT-GEOG-FORUM;adf4c5bc.2412
Subject: Call for Criminal Investigation into Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. Texas isn't safe for artists.
Date: Sat, 28 Dec 2024 21:57:05 +0000
Thanks for sharing ❤.